Virginia is a beautiful state with a vast geologic history.  It contains a wide range of young sediments from the Coastal Plains to the Precambrian rock of the Blue Ridge.  Virginia is home to all three rock types : igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary.  Within these rocks are the stories of ancient volcanoes, shallow lakes/lagoons, the journey of dinosaurs, etc.  Along with its great history, Virginia also offers a very diverse topography within its five provinces.  On our seven day journey, we will only be able to take a glimpse into four of the five provinces of this great state.  We will move from the flat regions of the coastal plains to the rolling hills of the Piedmont then to the majestic mountains of the Blue Ridge and finally to the high ridges and caverns of the Valley and Ridge.  As you prepare for your trip,  get your "virtual" hiking boots out, your rock hammers ready, and get ready to visit rock quarries in search of ancient life and a mine in search of precious gems.  Also on our trip, we will get "shaken up" at a seismology lab, tour the National Weather Service, explore underground caverns, and even look beyond our Earth as we visit an Astronomy observatory.  So sit back, buckle up and enjoy your "virtual cruise" through Virginia.

The best time of year to take this trip would be spring or fall due to the physical labor involved.  It will be more pleasant digging in 75 degree weather versus 85 or 90.  Also, locations such as Natural Bridge Cavern are opened seasonally - March through November.
 
 

Virginia's Climate:  Virginia has such a diverse climate that it is home to five different climate regions.  These regions include the Tidewater, Piedmont, Northern Virginia, Western Mountain, and Southwestern Mountain regions.  Within these regions some localities have long growing season, while others have winter temperatures equivalent to Chicago's!  It is Virginia's varying topography that helps to create its diverse climate.  This change in landscape causes global-scale weather patterns to be modified in three distinct ways.  First, the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic plays a large role in Virginia's precipitation climate.  Winter storms track form west to east moving northeast to parallel the Gulf Stream.  This results in the Blue Ridge Mountains receiving most of the storms moisture and thus lots of snowfall.  Second, the high relief of the Appalachians and Blue Ridge Mountains controls Virginia's climate in somewhat of a rain shadow effect.  When warm, moist air flows from the west, the New River and Shenandoah River valleys are in the rainshadow of the Appalachians; when this air flows from the east,  the New River and Shenandoah valleys are in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As a result of this rainshadow effect, the New River and Shenandoah valleys are among the driest regions in the state.  Finally, Virginia's complex pattern of rivers and streams helps to control the state's climate.  These rivers and streams drain the precipitation that falls, thus modifying  the pattern of moist airflow from which the precipitation falls.  All four geographical directions of Virginia's land are drained by these river systems. As air flows across Virginia, it flows either up river valleys or over mountain crests down into valleys.  The upward flow of moist air is conducive to rainfall while the downward flow of air is not (Hayden, 200).

References used to help develop this site.

A special thanks to Dr. Elizabeth Moore, Dr. Dennis Casey,  Dr. Alton Dooley, and Alexa Chew at the Virginia Museum of Natural History for the time and  information they offered toward the development of this site.